Has anyone ever considered....

[CherBear]

We all love the I6, it's a great engine for what its worth. Reliable and some what powerful, but it has little support for modifications producing sizable gains in performance besides stroker kits. Several people on this forum have gone around this problem by swapping a completely different engine in such as a V8 or more recently, a 2jz. (both very cool by the way) V8s are powerful, but barely fit in the engine bay, and other more exotic engines like the 2jz are also powerful, but many parts need to be custom fabricated.

So my question is, has anyone considered swapping a turbo 4 cylinder engine?
Specifically the 4g63 engine. (Eclipse, talon, jdm etc.)
It's small, has tonnes of aftermarket support, and can easily make hp/tq levels comparable to a v8.

Yeah i know it's only a 2.0, but these things are everywhere and cheap to build. Plus you aren't having to shoe horn the thing into the engine bay.
Put a GM auto trans behind with a gm tcase, then change your diff gears to adjust to the higher power band and viola! One sick ride!

 

[souske]

The DSM motors, while able to make quite a bit of power out of a little powerplant, they arent terribly reliable.

Also, no torque. Not sure they make gears deep enough to make up for this.

 

[bigdaddyjlove]

the later TJ Wranglers used a version of the Neon 2.4
A SRT-4 engine might be interesting

 

[Milford Cubicle II]

I'd kill for a diesel turbo 4-banger in my XJ.

Unfortunately however, those aren't very popular here in the US - too "dirty" for all the mindless liberals who don't know any better :doh:

 

[GrimmJeeper]

I'd kill for a diesel turbo 4-banger in my XJ.

Unfortunately however, those aren't very popular here in the US - too "dirty" for all the mindless liberals who don't know any better :doh:

the cummins 4bt swap has been done plenty of times and they used them in delivery trucks for close to if not over a decade.

 

[Root Moose]

I'm not clear on what aftermarket support is missing for our tractor engines.

Headers, cams, piggyback ECU, plus all the normal bolt on stuff. What are we missing?

 

[Milford Cubicle II]

the cummins 4bt swap has been done plenty of times and they used them in delivery trucks for close to if not over a decade.

The 4bt is not a popular swap, because of it's size and weight. And I thought we were talking XJ's, not delivery trucks. My point is, there are very few viable options out there for someone in the market for a small turbo diesel.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

I believe there is a guy in EU that has done a VW TDI swap. CRD is another. Good idea's.

 

[goodburbon]

After driving my new ford around for a few months, I'd LOVE to have an ecoboost in my XJ.

Just fuel for the fire.

 

[Talyn]

I'm not clear on what aftermarket support is missing for our tractor engines.

Headers, cams, piggyback ECU, plus all the normal bolt on stuff. What are we missing?

A lot. We have plenty of header options, exhaust options, cai's, some ignition components, some timing sets and limited ECU retuning. We also have one very expensive aluminum head, three sets of roller rockers, two off the shelf forged pistons and a single iffy roller cam. Look a V8 engines and vehicles. Many more head options, intake options, valve packages, roller rockers, roller cams, timing chains and belts, open ECUs, aluminum blocks, harmonic balancers, ignition, valve covers, oil pans, windage trays/screens, etc.

 

[shortxjdoug]

the later TJ Wranglers used a version of the Neon 2.4
A SRT-4 engine might be interesting

been done....chris durham built a few srt 4 tj's a few years back

 

[Dr. Dyno]

We all love the I6, it's a great engine for what its worth. Reliable and some what powerful, but it has little support for modifications producing sizable gains in performance besides stroker kits.

As much as I think V8 swaps are cool, the amount of fabrication and detail work involved is tremendous so it's not a project you'd undertake unless you can do it yourself and you have the facilities.
A budget 4.6 stroker with supporting mods will net you a 30% HP/TQ gain over stock, while a more expensively built 4.7 stroker with supporting mods could net a 45% power gain. If that's still not enough you can bolt a supercharger or turbo onto your stroker and double the stock HP output. All the parts are readily available; it's only the $$$ required to buy them that isn't.
If you're concerned about fuel costs, you could build this stroker recipe and convert it to run on LPG which is much cheaper than regular gasoline:

4.6L low-buck stroker propane special

Jeep 4.2L 3.895" stroke crank
Jeep 4.0L 6.125" rods
Keith Black UEM-IC945-030 pistons
10.9:1 CR
CompCams 68-231-4 206/214 degree camshaft
Ported HO 1.91"/1.50" cylinder head
Mill block deck 0.030"
Mopar/Victor 0.043" head gasket
0.040" quench height
262hp @ 4900rpm, 319lbft @ 3500rpm

 

[yossarian19]

I'd be interested in a modern 4 cyl swap. I've thought more than once that the power Volvos make with 2.3 liters under boost would work just fine in an XJ. Not a good crawling motor but around town & in the dirt, it would be just fine - and use a lot less gas around town, I'll bet.
Not sure, but I think all the "white" aluminum DOHC volvo motors share a bell housing pattern. The inline 6 motor in the 960 / V/S90 cars came bolted up to a 4 speed Aisin auto transmission.
The motors can be chipped, the turbos up-sized, wastegates tuned, etc... and run forever.
So who wants to be first?

 

[Super mud]

I would have thought a stroker at 10.9:1 would make more than 260hp but is it cause of the propane? I noticed thats off Dino's site

 

[Dr. Dyno]

I would have thought a stroker at 10.9:1 would make more than 260hp but is it cause of the propane?

Yes that's from my site and the slightly lower HP/TQ outputs are indeed 'cause of the propane. As an alternative fuel, ethanol would yield more HP/TQ than gasoline but it's harder to find cheaply unless you live in Brazil.

 

[Talyn]

As an alternative fuel, ethanol would yield more HP/TQ than gasoline but it's harder to find cheaply unless you live in Brazil.

On the same engine ethanol will not make more power since the energy per volume of ethanol is 34% lower than gasoline. If you build a high compression around ethanol then yes. But it would have to be higher than 10:1.. 14:1 to 16:1 would be better. You can run much higher compression. But you still have lousy mileage.

 

[seanyb505]

I don't see how a 4g63 would require less fabrication than the 2jz..

 

[Boostwerks.com]

I believe there is a guy in EU that has done a VW TDI swap. CRD is another. Good idea's.

FWIW, If we we're to do an engine swap, we'd throw in a TDI along with an upgraded turbo. Plenty of torque without the weight.

 

[CherBear]

I don't see how a 4g63 would require less fabrication than the 2jz..

From what I have seen in the 2jz build, a great amount of effort was put into adapting the engine to fit work with the tcase and trans. If I were to put in a 4g63, all that work would be eliminated by using an adapter that is already for sale to mate it to a gm trans and matching tcase. Yes, there still would be lots of work to do such as the motor mounts, gauges etc. But atleast the drivetrain will be be mostly bolt on.

 

[yossarian19]

What about a 3.8L GM V-6 with the supercharger? L67, I think it's called? Pulley up or down till you get the blend of power / economy you wanted, might improve around town fuel economy if you stayed out of boost. Then again mpg isn't much of a reason for an engine swap, most times.
If somebody somehow came up with a Pentastar V-6, I think that would make a helluva swap into a cherokee.